Skiers and snowboarders have seen a lot of ups and downs this winter, from December downpours to April snow dumps. While the ski/snowboard season isn’t quite over at Sugarbush, the resort celebrated the 2023-2024 season as it winds down at its third annual Spring Fling on Saturday, April 13, with live music, beverages, and food.
VIP passes ran for $100 each and offered access to Rumble’s indoor space, where there was a buffet of chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, sandwiches and more; two drink tickets; and a meet-and-greet with musicians G. Love, Stephen Kellogg, and Reed Foehl. A portion of each VIP ticket was donated to the Mad River Valley Community Food Pantry. Despite the rain, skiers and riders were rocking out to the music, or hanging out in the overhang outside Castlerock Pub, some nursing the Lawson’s brew of the same name.
Season passholder Kelly Barone, who lives in Rhode Island, described the season as “fantastic.” She has a Mountainside condo and said she gets up here as much as she can. “We had a ton of snow. Unbelievable, didn’t disappoint.” When asked what she likes about the mountain, she said, “I love everything about Sugarbush. I drive up here, it takes me four hours, and as soon as I get here, it’s worth every minute of that trip.”
A group of U-Mass alumnae on a girls’ weekend sipped their drinks and laughed in the VIP space while snacking on the buffet’s offerings. They came from all over New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire for the weekend, though it wasn’t their first trip to The Valley. Two of them have been coming to Sugarbush with their families for roughly 25 years. One of them has an aunt who owns a house in the area, so they have a place to stay.
When asked what they like about Sugarbush, Maddie McDermott said, “The terrain, it’s challenging, but they also have stuff that’s not.” Alexa Moon chimed in, “I like the little village, that it’s not just one thing, that there are several apres-ski options.”
Sugarbush PR and communications manager John Bleh said that the resort has had an “awesome” season and that it is on track to beat last year’s record in revenue and visitation. Recent events like last weekend’s Pride Weekend and the solar eclipse helped give Sugarbush’s numbers a boost. In its third year, the Spring Fling also drew crowds to celebrate the season.
“We were looking for a really big spring concert event we could throw, something that was fun, that was a big party, kind of like a culmination of everything that happened in the season. We wanted to find a way to sort of celebrate the end of the year, and spring,” Bleh said. “We’re hoping to stay open daily through [this] weekend, then we’ll close mid-week, then we’ll be open hopefully ‘til Cinco de Mayo.”
